Plans include ideas for homelessness, public safety, affordable housing, government performance
Nov. 10, 2023 (SFChronicle.com)
When we launched SFNext two years ago, our goal was to convene community members for robust conversations about the challenges facing the city. This would allow residents to have their voices heard in the form of solutions they would propose for how to fix their community.
Today, after meetings that included more than 1,000 of you, we deliver on that vision.
We are publishing 10 proposals crafted by residents who spent months studying specific issues, researching potential solutions and compiling their conclusions. The Chronicle did some editing on the documents for brevity and clarity, but otherwise these are the thoughts of your fellow residents.
A diverse array of folks from all over the city, the residents were recruited by the Chronicle from the more than two dozen smaller meetings held over the past 18 months in our newsroom and at community sites. The residents stood out because of their understanding of key issues, their altruism and love for the city, and their willingness to work with people with whom they don’t always agree. They, in turn, recruited others with expertise and like-minded passion.
The general topics were picked by the Chronicle after reviewing polling information on which issues were the most concerning to all of you, but the specific ideas were theirs.
10 big ideas to help fix San Francisco
- These proposals created by city residents target our biggest issues
- Plan to revitalize downtown S.F.’s public spaces focuses on pedestrians
- New type of S.F. homeless shelter would quicken path off the streets
- Proposal would build affordable homes for S.F.’s essential workforce
- Downtown S.F. university would bring students, economic development
- How ‘peacelets’ in S.F. would innovate community policing
- Quasi-government entity could reduce bureaucracy to save downtown S.F.
- New shelter for women would better help them off S.F.’s streets
- Training program could fill vital, vacant jobs at City Hall
- New management system could help improve S.F. government performance
- Public transit rewards program could help revive downtown S.F.
- Who developed these proposals, and how they did it
Send feedback to sfnext@sfchronicle.com.
San Francisco is a funny place in that everyone claims to be from the same political party but there are dozens of sharp schisms within the one big group. Throughout SFNext’s two years, our sessions were freewheeling, robust and informative. And unlike the social media posts where people who claim to care about San Francisco use personal attacks to intimidate and shout down everyone else, these were respectful conversations in which all points of view got a fair hearing.
The smaller group sessions of roughly 30 proposal authors were equally productive. But there was certainly not always unanimity of thought. Progressives and moderates still disagreed on fundamental points but they were willing to compromise on a path forward. At times, residents learned that compromise alone wasn’t enough. They would talk through all viewpoints on a nettlesome issue and agree that no side had a workable solution.
Sometimes, it was clear an idea might have zero chance of implementation because of the polarization of the city. The darkest moment came a month ago when the most cheery, optimistic resident in all of our meetings pulled me aside to ask, “It’s hopeless, isn’t it?”
But they persevered, and that shows it isn’t hopeless. But it won’t be easy. Funny thing is, it was all supposed to be over by now.
As we approach the four-year anniversary of the start of the pandemic, who would have imagined back then that we would still be in recovery mode? Instead, the city has been transformed in ways that I do not believe will change. Business and government leaders will have to work together with community members to craft the San Francisco of the future. What will that look like? We are a ways away from knowing. But we hope these proposals get everyone thinking about what the city should do next.
As for SFNext, the program concludes with publication of these reports. What began as a one-year project to examine the city’s issues was extended into its second year. Now, its ethos will inform our entire newsroom as we cover the future of the city through ensuing years of change.https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2023/sfnext-blueprint-bios/embed
Written By Emilio Garcia-Ruiz
Emilio Garcia-Ruiz is the Editor in Chief of the San Francisco Chronicle, the leading news source in the Bay Area. The Chronicle focuses its coverage on the issues critical to its readers, including health, homelessness, the post-pandemic future of the city, climate change and its deadly consequences and the area’s world-class food and wine scene.
Garcia-Ruiz joined the Chronicle in September 2020 after spending the previous 19 years at The Washington Post. His final role at The Post was as Managing Editor for Digital, where he oversaw the development and execution of digital strategy, supervising more than 350 journalists. He edited the 2000 Pulitzer prize-winning investigation by the St. Paul Pioneer Press that uncovered academic fraud in the University of Minnesota men’s basketball program. His career includes editing at the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times.
